Beit known that I, CLEoPHAs MONJEAU, a citizen of the United States, residing at Middletown, in the county of Butler and State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in the Purification of Water, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the purification of water for drinking and other purposes appertaining to human needs, and is based upon the discovery that growing vegetation under proper circumstances extracts from water a class of bacteria injurious to the animal, and

particularly the human organism. Where natures conditions exist undisturbed, the earth is for the most part covered with vegetation, most prolific where rains are most copious and frequent. The rain falling upon the trees of the forest trickles to the ground and soaks through the covering of dead leaves. In open spaces it falls upon the grass and sinks into the earth around and amid the grass-roots. In nearly all places it thus meets and is modified by vegetation, particularly by the roots of plants, around and among which the waterpercolates downward to the hidden reservoirs of springs.

My invention seeks to articially reproduce natures conditions as far as practicable in the purification of Water, particularly in connection with the water-supply of cities and villages where an abundant supply of potable water is a desideratum of highest value to the community; and it consistsv in the process hereinafter described and claimed of purifying water whereby bacteria injurious to the animal economy are taken up or modilied` In the drawings herewith I have shown this construction in simplest forms, which are suggestive merely, and may be varied or modified without departing from the underlying principle.

In the drawings, Figure l is a sectional elevation of a filter and purifier combined, embodying a means of carrying out my improvenient; Fig. 2, a plan view of a portion of an out ofdoor purifying ground, showing principle of construction; and Fig. 3, a section on line :c further illustrative of the construction.

Referring n ow to the drawings, the apparatus shown in Fig. 1 is a lteri'ng device designed to be used in connection with the water-supply of buildings for the purification of a comparatively small amount of water. It consists of a tank A, preferably of cylindrical form, containing the usual filteringlayers ct a2 d3, dac., of sand, coarse gravel, charcoal, dre., and at o r near the topI a removable perforated tray B, containing vegetation in a growing state bedded in a suitter in a multitude of minute streams discharged from a rose-nozzle or system O of radially-arrangedY minutely-perforated pipes in the manner of a shower of rain from above upon the bed of vegetation contained in the tray B. The water thus discharged trickles down through the bed of vegetation and thence passes through the filtering-layers ct a2, dac., to the discharge-pipe D at the bottom. The latter is constructed as a downwardlyinclined passage controlled at the discharge end by an eccentrically-pivoted flap-valve d, and has an air-inlet tube d enteringt he passage just inside the valve, with its mouth projecting below the level at which the height of Water accumulating in the passage would overbalance and open the valve against the force of aweight zo, tending to keep the same closed. The action of this portion of the device is as follows: Water passing down through the lter accumulates in the outlet-,passage D until -it rises to a sufficient height to overbalance and open the valve d, and so empty the passage. This action draws air through the tube d into the passage to take the place of the discharged air. The water being discharged, the valve d is again closed by the action of the weight w, and as the water rises it seals the mouth of the tube d', and as it' further accumulates it forces the excess of a simple and eective method of purifying' the water in which the initial step is the action of the vegetation through which the wa-j ter is passed and later further purication by the filtering and aeration described.

Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate an apparatusadapted for use on a large scale, consisting of a number of shallow basins F, usually of considerable size, one of which is shown in plan and cross-section in the igures.

scribed instance. earthy material arranged upon a bed of sand or gravel and containing a growth of Vege-l tation rooted therein. The action is substantially the same as in the case previously described, the water being distributed over1 the surface by pipes 19, carried aroundthe sides above the vegetation, and discharging inwardly through minute perforations or` through rotating sprayers C, arranged atV It isintended that a number-f suitable points. of such basins shall be employed in series and so arranged that any one or more can be temporarily disused when necessary for cleansing, renewal of the Vegetation, &;c. without inter' fering with the use of others in the series.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States-a 1. The process of purifying water for pota? ble uses consisting in spraying the same over artificially-prepared beds of vegetation and allowing the water to percolate through the Each basin is arranged with impervious bottom f, in clined to a central depression f', from which the outflow-passage D leads, constructed andV arranged substantially as in the rst-de` The basin is lled withy same, and at the same time aerating the water.

2. The process of purifying water for potable uses consisting in spraying the same over artificially-prepared beds of vegetation and allowing the water to percolate through the same and thence through a bed or beds of filtering material, and coincidently therewith aerating the water.

3. The process of purifying water for potable uses consisting in spraying the same over artificially-prepared beds of vegetation and allowing the vwater .topercolate through the same and thence through a bed or beds of ltering material, and at the same time aerating by passing air upward through said beds, substantially as specified.

4. The process of purifying water and rendering the same potable, consisting in passing the same downward over or through a bed of growing vegetation as an initial step in filtration,and,coincidently therewith, introducing atmospheric air and allowing the same to pass upward through the bed of vegetation, substantially asset forth.

5. The process of artificially effecting the equivalent of such natural purification of polluted water or'waters by causing the same to percolate through duly-interposed living vegetation and particularly the roots thereof, and thence through a bed or beds of lterin g material, collecting the water for use, and aerating the rwater by an upward current of air.

In testimonywhereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.